


What If?

by kangeiko



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2005-04-26
Updated: 2005-06-02
Packaged: 2017-10-09 20:53:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/91507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kangeiko/pseuds/kangeiko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Sirius had been the Potters' secret keeper? A series of snippets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

  
Peter's so sweet first thing in the morning, Lily thinks, warmly pleased to have him here. She misses having her friends around for anything resembling a social gathering, so she savours the moment before James arives.

"Everyone here?" James controls whatever room he walks into, artlessly, effortlessly. He is the undisputed master of all he surveys. She used to hate that about him, hate his casual acceptance of this gift that others couldn't help but envy. She got over the hate eventually, once his head had deflated a bit, but never really got over the envy. It's not really something you can will away.

"Sirius is running a bit late, says to go on without him. He'll Floo in, in a bit," Frank Longbottom says, shifting in the armchair by the large window in the living room. "Meeting up with Alice on the way, so she'll be late, too. Can't find a baby-sitter." He smiles an apology, as if it's the silliest thing in the world that an Auror can't find someone to watch a teething baby for half a moment. "And Dumbledore's still working on the Hogwarts wards, so neither he nor McGonagall can make it. I can stop by Hogsmeade, though, before next shift, and update them via Hagrid."

"Sirius is – where, again?" Peter is fussing with Harry, trying to get him to chew on a teething ring rather than his own fingers. "Come on, Harry, that's a boy. Sorry, yes. Sirius. I'm sorry. Where was he last night?" He shifts a bit, trying to settle the recalcitrant toddler across his knees, teething ring in hand. Harry keens and makes a grab for Peter's wand, tucked into a side pocket and dangerously tempting. "There, come on, now, behave."

"Night shift somewhere in Midlothian," James answers, "Dalkeith, maybe? _Accio_ paperweight," and spreads a map of the British Isles across the dining table.

Lily opens her arms for baby Harry in order to let Peter get a better view. Not much point her looking or knowing or planning, she knows, it's not like she could do a great deal stuck at home, but James seems to be managing to stay involved so she cranes her neck for a better look anyway. "Frank, dear, you should just tell Alice to leave Neville with us," she says, "James and I have plenty of time, it wouldn't be a problem," she says too, just to niggle a bit.

An ugly flush spreads across James's strong cheekbones, his mouth still open mid-word. His mouth snaps closed and thins, and he shoots Lily a sharp look.

She smiles back encouragingly. "Don't you think, James?"

She hasn't forgiven him for this, not in the least, not enough to let even one opportunity for a jibe pass.

"That would be lovely," James finally says through clenched teeth and turns his entire attention back to the map.

Lily sits back, satisfied. She tunes the rest of the meeting out, only stirring to kiss Sirius and Alice and Neville hello – it turned out that there really wasn't a babysitter to be had at such short notice – and sitting quiet for the rest of it. James lets up long enough for Sirius to debrief his part of it, then he's off again.

She entertains herself by making faces at baby Harry, who blinks back at her, a little unfocused. She wonders if he'll need glasses.

*  
fin


	2. Chapter 2

Sirius has been crashing on their sofa for a while now. Best place for him, James growled when he turned up post-shift. It's not like he's welcome at that awful place he calls home. Lily nods, though Sirius hasn't lived with his parents since his school years and never called Grimmauld Place 'home' to begin with. She wonders what on earth James is talking about - where is Sirius living now? With whom? She vaguely remembers him mentioning something about a flat viewing in Golders Green - then turns her attention to Harry. He managed his first word yesterday, she is sure, but has stubbornly been refusing to repeat his feat since. "Come on, Harry, say 'mamma', come on, sweetheart, 'mamma'?"

"It is a source of constant amazement that you ever managed to graduate, Evans; what are you attempting to teach that poor unfortunate?" Snape, unannounced, steps out of their Floo and surveys the kitchen with an air of supreme boredom.

James glares. Lily ignores him completely, focusing on the squealing Harry who, it turns out, adores unannounced visitors. She manages to catch him before he lands head-first onto the polished boots of Severus Snape.

"Sni- Snape," James manages. "Well?"

Snape hands him a stack of parchment and turns back to the Floo, apparently as eager to leave as James is currently eager for a fight. Any fight. Close to a year now, and cabin fever has well and truly set in.

James has a fascinating opinion on each and every book they have in their small library.

Lily plucks the handful of robes Harry is attempting to ingest none too delicately from the baby's mouth, sighing when he immediately begins to scream. "Snape," she calls out as he holds his hand out for the Floo powder. "He's teething."

Mid-throw, Snape calls out over his shoulder, "frozen bananas. That'll shut him up."

*

fin


	3. Chapter 3

"Harry. Darling. It's four in the morning. You do not want to get up." Harry screams his disagreement with this assessment and Lily gives in, hoisting him up out of the pen and into her arms. Old enough to toddle around and get at things toddlers really shouldn't be touching, so she had James built a small play-pen for him, warded so he couldn't will himself out of it. The bassinet has been abandoned in the corner of the nursery for a while now, and there is no earthly way that Harry would be sharing the bed with her and James.

Outside is nearly dawn. And someone really should trim that verge, she thinks. Must get Peter on it. "James," she calls out, busy providing Harry with sustenance, "you should get up. Snape will be here in a few. Come on, it's nearly dawn."

She hears the unmistakable thud next door as James falls out of bed and staggers into the bathroom. "Your dad's a bit silly sometimes, isn't he?" She asks Harry, who giggles a reply, resolutely chewing on half a chilled banana.

*

fin


End file.
